‘Bling Bishop’ Found Guilty of Fraud and Attempted Extortion
A Brooklyn pastor was convicted on multiple fraud charges after being accused of taking money from a parishioner’s family to fund his luxury lifestyle and trying to convince a businessman to lend him hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for currying political favor with his mentor, New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Lamor Whitehead was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud, one count of attempted wire fraud, one count of attempted extortion, and one count of making false statements, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
Prosecutors alleged that Whitehead had taken $90,000 from the mother of one of his parishioners at his small Brooklyn church, Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries. He promised the woman that he would use the money to help buy her a home. Instead, Whitehead used the money to purchase luxury goods, prosecutors said.